Sharing an Artistro Paint Pen Review with you today. Artistro was kind enough to send me these paint pens to check out, so I am sharing my review with you. I also did a video review for you that you can check out here, but otherwise, let’s get into it.
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Artistro Paint Pens
They are a US-based, family business. They offer a wide variety of paint pens in many different sizes, watercolour paint pans, different materials to paint, etc, so lots of fun, and different supplies. You can check out their blog, as well as free tutorials, and colouring pages to help kickstart your creativity.
I was sent the Trending Colours set of paint pens in the extra fine tip. I was very excited to try them as there were 15 pens to tryout, and many of them were coordinating colours, which meant blending and shading potential! It also came with a little insert with instructions on how to use it on different surfaces that I thought that was really great.
While these pens are great for any surface, I focus primarily and exclusively on paper. So this water based formula will act differently on other surfaces, such as glass or ceramic, then it does on paper. Please keep that in mind as you read through this review.
Artistro Paint Pen Review: Blending
I tested the pens by layering, blending, and even painting with them. I used 160GSM paper and 90GSM paper and both held up really well.
Layering
- Just like most paint pens, you have to make sure the bottom layer is completely dry before adding the top layer
- The formula says water-based so the top layer wasn’t as creamy as other paint pens I’ve tried. But overall it did a great job.
- You want to make sure your bottom layer isn’t too thick. I found the paper pilled, and adding another layer just caused more pilling and damage to the page. Waiting for it to dry completely will resolve this problem.
Blending
- I blended using 3 different methods: on the page, the pick-up method, and using a paint brush.
- These do dry quickly so if you’re blending the pens on the page, or with a paint brush, you’re going to want to work quickly.
- The best way to use on the page blending would be to add a thicker layer of paint from the pen, and then blend out with the lighter colour. Again, you want to be careful not to cause pilling. So work fast!
- My favourite method was the pick-up method. I activated some of the darker colour onto some acetate and then held the lighter colour in the puddle to absorb the darker colour. This method gives a softer gradient, but you have more control over how much paint you add.
- Overall, I thought these pens blended really well together, and as mentioned above, the coordinating colours were great.
Painting
- This I just tested for fun.
- For painting, I activated the pen on the acetate and then picked the colour up with the paint brush.
- You are going to want to work fast! The paint dries very quickly on the acetate and hardens like an acrylic.
- So while this was fun to test, I don’t think this isn’t really one of their purposes.
Paper
- I tested the pens on the 160GSM paper and a 90GSM page.
- Both pages held up really well.
- As mentioned above, you want to be careful how much paint you use so that the paper doesn’t pill.
- The thinner 90GSM paper had a bit of ghosting but held up really well. So these are definitely a great option if you are in a Moleskine or Leuchtturm.
Artistro Paint Pen Review Final Thoughts
Overall, I was really impressed with these pens and happy with how they worked on the paper. I had a lot of fun experimenting with them in my lettering piece and found the colours to really pop. The clear barrels are so great to make sure your paint is properly mixed, the price point is really affordable, they are easy to order and find, and the selection of colours is great.
The only thing I would love to see is a colour chart, or colour names on the barrel. This isn’t a deal breaker at all, I’m just not that creative when it comes to names! I save it for my journaling… (that’s my excuse at least :P).
To see more examples of how you can use these paint pens, you can check out Artistro’s accounts below:
If you would like to purchase some of these pens, you can use the promo code that Artistro was kind enough to set up for me: 10NATASHA10. This will give you 10% off their Amazon stores that I have linked down below:
- Amazon USA: https://amzn.to/3xBH6V2
- Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/2PA3Rrx
- Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3aOtr3n
- Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/stores/page/C7DAF86F-08BC-4F8E-A74D-13F28FEF0ED5?channel=bloggers
I hope you enjoyed today’s review. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Make sure to check out my latest bullet journal setup and my Calliograph pen review.
Thank you so much for your time today!
